


Heroes, Villains, and Everything in Between

by Emmeebee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble Collection, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-05-17 23:38:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14841392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmeebee/pseuds/Emmeebee
Summary: A collection of drabbles focusing on different characters from the HP universe. Primarily for the Build a Zoo Challenge.





	1. Peter

Peter scurries down the crowded street, darting between people's feet before ducking through a hole and into the failing Muggle hotel he's been staying at for the past few weeks. It's rare for them to have three bookings a night, let alone ever be full, so it was easy enough to cast a Confundus Charm on the receptionist to make her conveniently forget to ever let this room out to guests. Still, he makes sure never to enter in human form and to set up Muggle Repellent Wards around his door as an extra precaution.

As soon as he is safely inside the hotel room, he shifts back, feeling his body contort and lengthen as it turns from rat to human. Sighing, he settles down on the bed. It's lumpy and uncomfortable, and he has no doubt that that's part of the reason for the hotel's struggles, but it's better than the streets.

 _I can't keep doing this,_ he thinks.

He can't show his face in public again – even outside of Wizarding Britain, the risk of running into someone who recognises him is too high – and he doesn't have the connections or resources to acquire Polyjuice Potions. His only options are to try to assimilate fully into Muggle society, which is as confusing and inaccessible to him as ever, or to live as a rat until he can think of another option.

Neither possibility appeals to him, but the latter is slightly less distasteful.

The next time he goes out, he'll start looking for a family to take him in. That or take his chances at Magical Menagerie; it has a decent enough reputation, although he doesn't relish the element of chance that comes with it.

His hand drifts towards the small box of photographs and letters that he managed to sneak back home to collect, but he stops himself before he lifts the lid. All that will come of it is torture and guilt.

Peter regrets his decision every day. He knows he doesn't have the right to mourn his friends' deaths – Sirius would probably defy all the odds and break out of Azkaban to kill him at the thought of him having the gall to do so – but that doesn't change the fact that he wishes everything were different.

He loveshis friends – still, even now. Their time together at Hogwarts was, and will probably always remain, the best days of his life. When he first joined the Death Eaters, he wasn't trying to pit himself against them. He wasn't even thinking about it; he didn't have the time. He was just acting on instincts.

Now, all he has is time to think.

And to regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Build a Zoo Challenge with the prompt 'Peter Pettigrew'


	2. Mary

Mary knows her friends think she's a coward for refusing to fight in the coming war, even though they would never say it outright. She can see it in the way they don't meet her eyes when they're talking about their post-school plans and glance at each other when she's talking about hers. It's clear that they don't mean for her to notice, but her friends have never been any good at being sly.

She doesn't begrudge them their judgement. After all,  _they_ are all going to fight – and most of them have less at stake than she does. James and Sirius could easily get through the skirmish unscathed if they wanted to, keeping their heads down and declaring neutrality; they wouldn't be  _favoured,_ but they wouldn't be attacked, either. They're fighting for their morals, and for their friends – not for themselves. In comparison, Mary is a likely target; between her Muggle heritage and the week-long suspension Mulciber received when he cursed her two years prior, there are probably a number of Death Eaters who would like nothing more than to be the one to take her out.

But that's the thing. She has felt what it's like to be cornered, to be helpless, to feel the boils grow on her skin and know that's just the prelude. She has felt it, and she never wants to be in that position again. Even the idea of being at the end of a friend's wand in DADA chills her – how much worse would it be to stand across the battlefield from a true enemy?

She refuses to do that to herself. She would rather snap her own wand, take her parents, and disappear deep into the Muggle world, changing their names and appearances and personalities and  _everything_ so that nobody will ever find them.

If that makes her a coward, then so be it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Build a Zoo Challenge for the prompt 'Mary MacDonald'


	3. Michael

Unrolling the paper to be met with a frontpage article from Rita Skeeter, Michael rolls his eyes and tosses it aside. He can't hold in the frustrated sigh that has become an almost instinctive response to seeing, hearing, or reading anything to do with that woman. Apparently, being the ex-boyfriend of the Chosen One's girlfriend is a newsworthy matter. It feels like every time Ginny and Potter are seen together in public, Skeeter wants a quote from him about how heartbroken he is or how he's concerned that Ginny will leave Potter the way she left him.

Morag insists he brought it on himself. He wishes he could argue otherwise, but he really can't.

The first time Skeeter came to him, he was at the pub after a hard week at work. Well past drunk and all too happy to vent about schoolyard slights, he told her everything. About how the whole time they were dating, Ginny was obsessed with Harry Potter. About how it felt like she had one foot out the door from the start. About how she started dating Dean almost immediately after they broke up.

He neglected to mention how he'd been more focused on Quidditch than her at the time, or how he'd started dating Cho almost as quickly as she started dating Dean. Bitterness blinds, after all; it wasn't until he read the newspaper a few days later that he realised what he'd done.

But by then, it was too late.

Most of his old classmates don't care. Potter has forgiven him, saying that he understands how Skeeter manipulates and deceives, and while Ginny hasn't, she has agreed to be civil so as not to make the gossip worse. Still, the fallout has been bad. Half of the population blames him for trying to get between the couple, while the other half wants to hear more about how their heroes' lives are just as flawed as their own. Either way, it isn't pleasant for him – or for them.

But that isn't the worst of it; a few screening spells on his incoming mail were enough to shield him from most of the public backlash. No, the real issue is that Skeeter is like a shark; now that she has scented his weakness, tasted his blood, she refuses to give up the chase. Every time he walks down the street, he tenses up, worried that she'll appear out of nowhere to ambush him again.

He can only hope it will die down after Ginny and Potter's wedding.

Somehow, he doubts it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Build a Zoo Challenge with the prompt 'Michael Corner'


	4. Daphne

The first time she transformed, Daphne almost drowned – or whatever it was called when an aquatic animal was stranded on land. She didn't have control of the change yet, so she spent most of the time helplessly flapping about on the floor of the seventh-year girls' dormitory. Thankfully, her instincts kicked in before it was too late, responding to the lack of water by sending her hurtling back to her human form. She stayed at the foot of her bed, wracking in deep breaths and trying not to think about just how close she'd come to dying. Then, shaken and unable to calm her racing heart and mind, she went downstairs and asked Theo to talk at her until her nerves settled.

The experience was terrifying, but once she had time to recover, the knowledge that she would be at home both on land and at sea sunk in. Times of strife called for extra precautions, and the ability to just swim away from it all was a reassuring one indeed. Of course, that would mean leaving Astoria and their parents behind, which she would never do.

Still, she was thankful for the option.

The second time she transformed, she was more prepared. During one of her free periods, she ducked away to the Prefects' Bathroom, waded through the warm water until she was waist-deep, and forced herself to shift. Magic rushed through her as her body contorted into its new shape, her skin turning smooth like rubber as her nose lengthened and her legs combined. She hadn't had the presence of mind to really take in the experience the first time, but this time, she forced herself to take note of everything. To her surprise, there was no pain, just a sense of oddness that was over as soon as it came.

The confined space of the bath was limiting. What was spacious beyond belief as a human seemed miniscule as a dolphin. But it was safer than transforming in the Black Lake. Giant Squids were known to eat whales on occasion, and while she had never heard of them eating dolphins, she didn't want to risk it. Not unless she had to. Besides, she wasn't yet confident enough in her abilities to maintain her form to risk changing somewhere where she couldn't easily return to the surface if need be.

She registered through Slughorn after that. Despite his posturing about how dangerous it could have been to attempt an Animagus transformation without an experienced supervisor, he was willing to pretend he'd guided her through it for the sake of the legalities. She'd always known he would. After all, becoming an Animagus while underage was quite the feat, and that was sure to put her on his list of people to watch out for in the future.

The decision to go through him proved more fortuitous than she could have imagined. Due to his extensive network of contacts, he was able to get her officially registered without alerting anyone – such as the Carrows – who might report her achievement back to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. In Britain, Animagi were few and far between, and that could have made her a target for recruitment if word got out.

Of course, that meant she had to be more careful about transforming after that, barricading the door to the bathroom any time she wanted to use her newfound abilities. It would have been better to avoid using them altogether, but being in her dolphin form gave her a sense of peace that was hard to come by in such dark times. Even decades later, when she looked back on the terror and confusion of the war, the one bright spark was her memories of doing laps of the bath, shedding her fears and anxieties for an hour at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Animagus Challenge with the prompt 'dolphin' and the Build A Zoo Challenge with the prompt 'Hogwarts'.


	5. Kingsley

The office of the Minister for Magic was spacious and physically welcoming, with comfortable furniture and wide windows that let sunlight stream into the room. It was the safest place in the building, warded so tightly that even the most prodigious curse-breakers would struggle to get in without his permission.

Yet despite its strengths, Kingsley had never worked anywhere that felt more distant and cold. He was used to the bustling collaboration of the Auror Department – to the sense that there was always somebody nearby who would be willing to lend an ear, and a brain, if needed. Even when they were working on different cases, the Aurors shared the same goal: to protect civilians and bring criminals to justice.

But now that he was Minister, he felt more alone than he ever had. Confidential paperwork crossed his desk dozens of times a day, and even his secrets had secrets. There were so many things that he couldn't discuss even with his closest friends for fear of a security breach. He had his advisors, of course, but he never knew whether he could truly trust them. Everybody had their own agendas in the Ministry.

_This is why I never wanted to go into politics,_ he thought.  _I would have been much happier as Head Auror._

Nevertheless, the Order had needed someone in power who they could trust to be fair, and Kingsley had been the only real option. If he'd declined, someone like Alfred Greengrass – proper and law-abiding but a little too attached to tradition – would have gotten in, and any legislative changes would have been slow and hard-won.

Maybe Kingsley's parents were right. He'd always scoffed at the idea that the best leaders might be the ones who least wanted the position, reasoning that such people probably just knew themselves well enough to know that they didn't suit that kind of life. But perhaps there was some truth to it after all.

He hoped there was, in any case. If not, what was he doing there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Build a Zoo Challenge with the prompt 'Kingsley Shacklebolt'.


	6. Lavender

The wind rushes through Lavender's hair as she soars through the sky, and she laughs out loud at the sensation. Her hair is going to be horribly knotted by the time she lands, and it'll be a pain to brush it out, but she doesn't care. It's worth it. All the stress of exams and essays seems to roll off her as she flies, leaving her feeling more peaceful and relaxed than she has in weeks. Her new broom turns like a dream with even the slightest shift of her weight, and it lets her move with more grace and mobility than ever.

If she could, she would live her life in the air. Up here, none of the problems that seem so vitally important in the world below mean a thing. Arguments with Parvati, problems with Ron, concerns about classes – they all stay safely on the ground.

She needs to do this more often; it's been too long since she last flew.

The main issue is that she doesn't want people to know about it. Living in such close proximity to so many other people, it's hard to keep anything a secret. She has succeeded so far, mostly by going out sparingly and only when she knows that everyone else is occupied.

It isn't that no one knows; Parvati and Seamus do. But she loves the knowledge that it's something for them and them alone. Anyone else would try to convince her to join the House team or challenge her to a race, unable to understand how someone could love to fly for the joy of it yet hate having bludgers hurtle at them.

Funny, that.

Tilting her broom handle down, she makes her way back to the ground, dismounting behind a large oak tree with a huge grin on her face and a new lightness in her heart. Tension gone from her back and hair hopelessly mussed, she tucks the broom into her robes – one of the many benefits of wizarding fashion – and walks back up to the castle, taking her time to enjoy her last few moments in the morning sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Build a Zoo Challenge with the prompt 'Lavender Brown'.


	7. Marauders

Sirius examined his sketch for a moment, turning it this way and that with an uncharacteristically thoughtful expression on his face. Then, he nodded briefly to himself and handed it over to Remus. 'Look alright?'

'Mate, you know I can't draw. Anything resembling a room is going to look perfect to me.' Remus took his quill and drew a small symbol on the back of the piece of parchment. It was some sort of organisational system that made sense to nobody but him.

Filing, Remus called it.

Boring, the others called it, although they knew it was necessary. It was easy to remember where places like the Great Hall went, but none of them fancied the idea of playing jigsaw puzzle with secret passageways and abandoned classrooms that they'd never been in before and would probably never have cause to be in again.

'It looks like we're done, then,' Peter said. 'We haven't missed anything?'

'Nah,' Remus said. 'That should be the last one.'

James bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. 'We're ready to go test it, then, yeah? I've tested the spell a few times, but we should probably do it again just in case.'

Peter shook his head. 'We trust you.'

Remus nodded. As much as James might like to slack off during lessons, he had a sharp focus when it came to anything Marauder-related. With a venture of this size and magnitude, there was no way he hadn't done his due diligence in making sure the spell was perfect. None of them wanted to see months of hard work go down the drain in an instant due to an untested spell.

But seeing the uncertainty flicker on James' face, Remus added, 'But there's no harm in doing it again. Sirius can draw up a sketch for you to test it on while Peter and I start to put the pieces together.'

Sirius let out an exasperated sigh. 'Sometimes, I think the only thing you all want me for is my drawing ability.'

'Wow,' Peter said, amusement flickering in his eyes. 'You should hold onto those moments of self-awareness.'

'Why, you – '

Peter stuck out his tongue and sprinted off, Sirius sprinting after him. 'Come here! I'll show you self-aware!'

As Remus and James watched, Sirius tackled Peter and pulled him into a headlock, messing up his hair as they both laughed.

'Thanks for having my back,' James muttered to Remus. 'I don't know why I'm so nervous about this all of a sudden.'

'It's because it matters, so you're afraid of messing it up.' Remus' gaze didn't waver from their friends once.

'You're not going to mess us up,' James said quietly. 'You're stuck with us now; you know that, right?'

Remus smiled and clapped him on the back. 'I'm glad.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the Build a Zoo Challenge with the prompt 'James Potter'.


	8. Severus

As Severus ran up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, passing members of the Order who let him by without a second thought, his thoughts were fixated on what he was going to have to do. If he was going to kill the Headmaster, he had to make sure he was ready. Unforgiveable Curses became easier with time as the soul became desensitised to their horror, but they still required genuine emotion behind it.

Throwing up his Occlumency walls, he imagined himself locking up any positive emotions towards the Headmaster in a trunk and shoving it in the back of a dark, dank Potions supply closet. He knew it was there; how could he not? He knew the exact location of every ingredient and potion he stored in there. But he forced himself not to think of it – to make it as small and unimportant as he could.

Then, he focused on every single thing Albus had ever done to wrong him. He pictured the shock on the Slytherins' faces when the House Cup victory was ripped away from them at the last second. He called to mind how patronising Albus had sounded when he'd told him that the real lesson from his near-death experience with Remus in werewolf form was that he shouldn't have been in the grounds after hours. He remembered Lily's face, cold and still in death, and how Albus had used that to manipulate him.

By the time he reached the top of the tower, hatred burned in his chest. There was a part of him, in the back of his mind, that told him that it wasn't too late – that he could still go to that corner of his mind, pull out that trunk, and unleash the truth. But he was wrong. It was too late, and it had been from the moment Albus put that cursed ring on his finger.

 _Forgive me,_ he thought as he burst into the room, and even he didn't know who he was seeking mercy from. Albus? Lily? The Order? Potter?

He supposed it didn't matter. Forgiveness would never come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Build a Zoo Challenge with the prompt 'Astronomy Tower'.


End file.
